Today, the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, in Shelby County v. Holder[2]. The case involves a challenge by Shelby County, Alabama, to the Section 5 “preclearance” provision of the Voting Rights Act, which requires states and jurisdictions with some of the worst histories of voting discrimination, such as Alabama, to have all voting changes reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice or the D.C. District Court to ensure they are free from discrimination.

The constitutionality of Section 5 has been sustained by the Supreme Court on four separate occasions in the past, and all lower courts have similarly upheld Section 5 against constitutional challenges. LDF represents six African-American residents of Shelby County.